


Lost Knight

by MaeveBran



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), Dark Knight (2008)
Genre: Angst, Ficathon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-15
Updated: 2008-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-26 03:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2636825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaeveBran/pseuds/MaeveBran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was the second funeral Bruce had attended in as many days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost Knight

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #30 for the knightfest ficathon on LJ:
> 
>  _If she's your only one_  
>  _And she is also mine,_  
>  _Just pin your heartbeat up against my heartbeat_  
>  _And we'll see how well we rhyme._  
>  \--Josh Ritter

Bruce Wayne hung back from the crowd at the cemetery. It was the second funeral he had attended in as many days. Yesterday's was the big public funeral for District Attorney Harvey Dent. Today's was a small service for Assistant District Attorney Rachel Dawes. He stood beside Alfred as the coffin with the very chard remains of his dearest friend were lowered in the ground. He hung back not knowing what to say to Rachel's mother. It was not that he didn't know Mrs. Dawes. It was that he knew her too well to just recite the expected platitudes and not take the blame for Rachel's death. Mrs. Dawes had been a mother figure to him after his parents' deaths and to say anything would be to openly admit he was Batman and if he did that, Commissioner Gordon would have to arrest him.

Bruce hung back until it was just himself, Alfred and Mrs. Dawes. He went forward and said the clichés expected of him. Mrs. Dawes looked into his eyes and wordlessly leaned forward and Bruce wrapped his arms around her in a hug similar to the one she had given him after his parents funeral oh so many years ago. Finally she stepped back and said something to Alfred but Bruce wasn't paying attention. He was watching the cemetery workers fill in Rachel's grave. 

Bruce let the flood of memories come. Racing through the grounds of Wayne Manor and the arrow head. The two of them sneaking into the kitchen when Alfred and Mrs. Dawes were busy and sneaking the sweetened condensed milk to pour into their hot chocolate. Their teenage years when he had been forced to be her dance partner when she had taken ballroom dance in school and needed to practice. The day they said goodbye when Rachel went off to college. The party when she graduated Cum Laude and Bruce had graduated high school. Rachel moving out to find her way in the city. The day of Joe Chill's parole hearing. Her disappointment in him. Bruce escaping to the far east. The way he didn't let her know he was back until she had run into him in that hotel lobby. He had always felt bad that her first impression of the new and improved Bruce Wayne had to, for necessity's sake, been of the carefree playboy. Bruce was glad that there had been a reason for her to find out about Batman. She had been proud to be right that he was one of the good people.

Bruce regretted that to be that good person and fight the criminals of Gotham City he had to be apart from Rachel. They were still friends and occasionally met socially but they couldn't be more because it would be distracting and leave him vulnerable. Although that line of thought was not flying with Bruce at this moment. He had never felt more vulnerable then he did when the Joker threatened Rachel and threw her out that window. He had saved her then but he had been unable to save her from the Joker in the end. Just like he had been unable to save Harvey Dent from the Joker. He had given up Rachel to Harvey so she would live and have a normal life and she had died anyway.

Alfred walked Mrs. Dawes to the waiting car and made sure she would be alright getting home before he walked over to his employer.

“Master Wayne?” Alfred inquired.

“Yes, Alfred,” Bruce replied.

“You did your best. You couldn't have known . . .” Alfred said.

“I couldn't have known that that Joker was a lying and cheating bastard son of a bitch?” Bruce finished bitterly.

“You could say that. I was going to say that you couldn't have known that he was going to take Rachel and Mr. Dent. And even if you could have predicted it, once you got there you would have been too late,” explained Alfred.

“I should have guessed. I got there in time to get Harvey out. I could have saved her,” Bruce said.

“You could have and then what?” Alfred asked.

“She and I could be together,” Bruce replied.

“Are you certain of that?” Alfred prodded gently.

“What are you saying? Rachel said she'd be there for me when Gotham no longer needs Batman. That day would have come if Harvey hadn't followed that demented clown. Now both she and Harvey are dead and Gotham needs Batman but wants to see him punished as well,” Bruce concluded.

Alfred debated with himself before speaking again, “Bruce, that may have happened, but it is more likely that Rachel would have been the friend she has always been. And nothing more.”

Bruce looked at Alfred with a pained yet puzzled expression. “What do you mean?”

“Rachel left a note for you and said for me to read it so I could give it to you when the time was right,” Alfred explained.

“So where is the note?” Bruce asked flatly.

“I burned it yesterday when I brought you your breakfast,” Alfred answered. “I thought you didn't need to know. But now, if you are going to beat yourself up, I think you should know all the facts.”

“So what are all the facts,” Bruce asked.

“She was going to marry Harvey, Bruce. That was what the note said. She wanted you to believe in yourself if you lost faith in everything else,” Alfred said.

“Thanks for telling me,” Bruce said. He wandered over to the other new grave a few rows over. 

“Mr. Dent was a good man,” Alfred said.  
“He was. But that good man is gone and I have to try to take his place,” Bruce said.

“By being the bad guy,” Alfred agreed.

“What's the point? Rachel's gone. What hope do I have?” Bruce despaired.

“The point is to make the world a better place. To live up to the legacy left by your parents. To show the world that there are still good people in Gotham. The point is the same as it was when you started being Batman,” Alfred explained.

“That all?” Bruce said sarcastically. “Seems so simple.”

“It is that simple and that hard, Master Wayne,” Alfred answered. “The only thing you can do is make their deaths count.”

Alfred walked away, leaving Bruce to think about what he had said. He knew Bruce would think and brood for awhile. Alfred knew that when Bruce was ready, they would leave the cemetery with a new commitment to making Gotham safe.


End file.
